Major Ballsup's Hobby Shed

Halfway through the year already, bloody hell has someone sped up time and not told me?  The hot weather this month means my painting time has been limited to early and late in the day. "Why's that?" I hear you ask.  Well my painting desk is in a South facing bedroom and it's hot as Beelezebub's balls in there, with paint drying instantly on the palette.  However, I have managed to progress on a few fronts.   The blog passed 100,000 views in June and shot up to over 103,000 by the end of the month.  I'm not sure if this is all genuine traffic (who knows how these things work), but my sincere thanks to everyone that's visited, and especially those that take the time to comment, either on the blog, TMP or Facebook.  It is very much appreciated and inspires me to keep waffling on.  The blog is just my hobby diary and as there's not any of the most popular subjects (American Civil War, Napoleonics, Warhammer 40K or NWE Second World War) I'm amazed tha...

It was back in September 2023 since I last had The Seven Years War collection on the table ( here ).  Looking back I bemoaned that it had been two years since my first SYW game ( here ), and concluded by writing "I must get a larger game in which hopefully won't be another two years time".  Well it's not quite two years and I've finally played another game! For this game I followed The Clash at Kutzdorf scenario from the Honours of War rule book.  Austrians  - Dashing Commander-in-Chief commanding: Infantry brigade (Austrian) commanded by a Dependable Brigade Commander (BC) of 3 standard infantry battalions and 1 superior medium artillery battery; Infantry brigade (Hungarian) commanded by a Dependable BC of 3 standard infantry battalions and 1 superior medium artillery battery; Cavalry brigade commanded by a Dithering BC of 2 superior cavalry regiments. Prussians -  Dashing Commander-in-Chief commanding: Infantry brigade commanded by a Dashing BC of 4 ...

September has been busy all round including hobby wise.  I'm very pleased with what I've done and enthused with my ongoing projects.   Completed The end of the month saw the release of  A War Transformed, the Osprey rules for a "folk horror" First World War game.  I liked the look of this since it's announcement and it's encouraged me to revisit the Germans that I'd built in 2021 ( here  and  here ) and make some improvements which you can see here . I finally finished off the 15mm Landsknecht pikemen and halberdiers.  Lovely little fellas full of character there's lots more pics here . I completed two batches of Victrix Unarmoured Romans.  I enjoyed doing the first batch so much that I'd started on the second batch as the last coat of varnish was drying on the first.  More pics of them here and here .  To make the 6mm Seven Years War game that I played look a bit more interesting I knocked out some quick roads.  Details a...

Since recently reading The Seven Years War in Europe I've wanted to have a game.  The weekend just gone I finally had that chance.  I didn't have too long a window to play in so based the scenario on the first scenario in the Honours of War rules.   A ustrians  - 1 Brigade commanded by a Steadfast Brigade Commander (BC) of 3 standard infantry regiments and 1 superior medium artillery battery. 1 Independent unit of 1 superior cavalry regiment. Prussians -  1 Brigade commanded by a Steadfast BC of 2 superior infantry regiments and 1 standard medium artillery battery. 1 Independent unit of 1 superior cavalry regiment. Turn One  Command Performance rolls for each Commanding General produce Steady results.  The Prussians win the Movement Initiative and the Prussian Infantry brigade moves up as does it’s attached artillery.  For their move the Austrian Infantry Brigade change from column to line for ½ a move and use their remaining allowance t...